Hungochani: The History of a Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa, Second Edition

by Marc Epprecht

In the tapestry of global queer cultures Africa has long been neglected or stereotyped. In Hungochani, Marc Epprecht seeks to change these limited views by tracing Southern Africa's history and traditions of homosexuality, modern gay and lesbian identities, and the vibrant gay rights movement that has emerged since the 1980s. Epprecht explores the diverse ways African cultures traditionally explained same-sex sexuality and follows the emergence of new forms of gender identity and sexuality that evolved with the introduction of capitalism, colonial rule, and Christian education. Using oral testimony, memoirs, literature, criminal court records, and early government enquiries from the eighteenth century to the present, he traces the complex origins of homophobia. By bringing forth a wealth of evidence about once-hidden sexual behaviour, Epprecht contributes to the honest, open discussion that is urgently needed in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Homosexuality - or hungochani as it is known in Zimbabwe - has been denounced by many politicians and church leaders as an example of how Western decadence has corrupted African traditions. However, a bold, new gay rights movement has emerged in several of the countries of the region since the 1980s, offering an exciting new dimension in the broad struggle for human rights and democracy unfolding on the continent. In a new preface to this edition, Epprecht considers the recent advances of equality on the continent such as the legalization of same-sex marriage in South Africa, as well as discriminatory setbacks such as Uganda's anti-homosexuality legislation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0773541713
• ISBN13: 9780773541719
• Release Date: May 2013
• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Strong History, Important Topic

In the introduction, the author suggests that he has a background in radical gay rights activism. However, this book is not "propaganda." This is a rigorous and respectable history that even historians (incorrectly!) unsympathetic to lesbians and gay men should respect and support. The author focuses on multifaceted phenomena that affect Southern African gays and the homophobia they faced or face. Many books that address taboo topics can be scrapbook-ish, an example of gleaning for information. This book, however, is thorough and thoughtful. It starts far into the past and moves to a more recent time. As that region is biracial; the texts focuses upon both Africans and Europeans. Unfortunately, the diverse focus may give ammunition to opponents that consider gay community and activity to be "un-African." I lost my copy of the book at O'Hare International Airport. I wish I still owned it and hope whoever has it now can benefit from it. This book may do for Southern Africa what John D'Emilio's "Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities" did for the United States.

A superlative piece of historical research

Marc Epprecht, who teaches African history at Queen's University (in Kingston, Ontario) and earlier worked in Zimbabwe and Lesotho, has written one of the very best books on homosexualities of a particular geographic area. Epprecht mined the judicial archives in Zimbabwe, examining cases in the early days of the Southern Rhodesia colony involving male-male couples (more than a few of whom brought cases against estranged partners) and revealing what Shona males expected of/from male-male sexual relations. Epprecht also founded an oral history project and trained Zimbabweans to interview elders about (homo)sexuality in mining camps and in home villages during the first half of the twentieth century. He marshals material from ethnographies and memoirs along with the oral history, early-20th-century government commissions investigating conditions in mining camps, and forensic records into a readable and sensitive account of southeastern African homosexualities. Epprecht's archival research shows beyond any reasonable doubt that "that male-male sexual relations were quietly taking place among Africans became obvious to the invaders as soon as they set up their police and court structure. Epprecht discusses homosexuality recorded or alleged about whites in southeastern Africa, too. He chronicles the concerted efforts by Christian missionaries to demonize "sodomites" as damned and as "un-African"--and to "counter traditional practices that allowed for child spacing" (of which going away and taking a boy wife was only one of many). The book includes somehistoric photos, a very useful pair of maps, a glossary, and two appendices. The first is an account of setting up the Gay Oral History Project, the second includes some transcripts of oral history interviews. The book is extraordinarily well-researched, well-organized, and well-written. Epprecht actively (and successfully) seeks to explore how Africans involved in same-sex sexual relations felt about their partners.